Douluo Continent: Pioneers of the Era, Gods in Parallel

Chapter 33 Exploitation by the Nobles

"Zhou Yuan, thank you. I have obtained a very satisfactory soul skill."

Shi Hao opened his eyes and his face was full of excitement.

"Leave here immediately, and explain your soul skill and soul power level as you go back."

Zhou Yuan did not linger here.

The commotion that just happened, while it may have deterred many of the surrounding spirit beasts to some extent, will eventually attract some powerful spirit beasts with higher intelligence to come and investigate.

This kind of thing is quite normal in the Soul Beast Forest.

Powerful soul beasts often engage in battles, resulting in intense tremors.

After the tremors subside, some relatively intelligent soul beasts will secretly head to the area where the tremors occurred to see if there's any chance of finding something worthwhile.

After all, battles between soul beasts often result in many casualties.

As they continued their journey, Zhou Yuan and the others inquired about Shi Hao's soul skills.

Having absorbed the first soul ring from over eight hundred years ago, and with the accumulation of cultivation he had made after reaching level 10, Shi Hao's cultivation level reached level 14 in one fell swoop.

His first soul skill is called Golden Body Giant Strength Transformation.

It doesn't boost all physical attributes, but only increases strength, speed, and defense.

Strength increased by 100%, defense increased by 150%, and speed increased by 50%.

There is no time limit; it continues until the soul power is exhausted.

"Is the defense boost really that high?"

Zhou Yuan was also quite surprised, but he was mostly happy for Shi Hao.

In this way, their team gained another front-line damage dealer.

The explosion of gunpowder did more than just blast open a small cliff, nor did it just kill a few soul beasts.

Instead, it completely caused an explosion on both continents.

On the continent of Sun and Moon, the emperors of the two great empires immediately realized the importance of gunpowder.

Whoever produces the most gunpowder first will gain the initiative in the upcoming battle.

"Quickly, gather enough materials for me as soon as possible, we need to make gunpowder immediately."

"Let the Soul Master study it and see if we can integrate this gunpowder into the Soul Tool."

The two empires immediately sprang into action.

They are all vying for the initiative.

Once they gain the upper hand, they can unify the continent.

Compared to the Sun Moon Empire, the forces on the Douluo Continent are more complex and more ruthless.

Star Luo Empire.

"We have all the materials needed for this gunpowder within our Star Luo Empire, but we cannot openly mine them on a large scale."

"Everything is proceeding quietly. Now that the power of gunpowder is being displayed on the light screen, the Spirit Hall might soon intervene and take control of it under the guise of maintaining peace on the continent."

"Gunpowder is powerful, but its power is ultimately limited and has not yet reached the level of being able to seriously injure a Title Douluo."

Emperor Xingluo looked at his most trusted ministers and gave them orders.

Back when Zhou Yuan was experimenting with gunpowder, some of them had already replicated his actions one-to-one.

They even secretly tried to detonate it.

Therefore, they were well aware of the power of the gunpowder.

From gunpowder, they saw an opportunity for the Star Luo Empire to unify the continent and potentially fulfill the long-cherished wish of their ancestors.

This is something we absolutely cannot miss.

Therefore, they had already made preparations.

They weren't too shocked by what they saw.

Compared to the Star Luo Empire, which made preparations early on, the Heaven Dou Empire was clearly slow to react.

"This gunpowder is something that can truly change the landscape of the game, and it can even allow ordinary people to severely injure low-level Soul Masters. This thing must be strictly prohibited."

"Otherwise, our Heavenly Dou Empire might very well descend into chaos."

Emperor Xueye looked at the light screen in the sky and made this seemingly absurd move.

As an emperor, how could he not know the uses of gunpowder?

But he had no choice but to do so, and he had no choice but to explicitly prohibit it.

We need to intensify our efforts and strictly control these supplies.

There's nothing we can do; that's just how things are.

He may appear to be of noble status, an emperor of a nation, but Emperor Xueye knows very well that his word carries no weight in the entire Heavenly Dou Empire.

This country relies on the nobility, and can only rely on the nobility.

Only when they are a community of shared interests can they protect the fundamental interests of the entire country.

Ordinary people should never be able to control this power.

"Issue my order: from this day forward, sulfur, saltpeter, charcoal, and sugar are all prohibited items and are not allowed to circulate in the market."

The Great Emperor issued his order in a deep voice on a snowy night.

As for whether issuing this order would lead many people to believe that ordinary people couldn't survive, that's not something he needs to consider.

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In their eyes, ordinary people are not even considered human beings.

They are not even as good as soul beasts.

The true commoners of the Heaven Dou Empire are the commoner Soul Masters. As for those ordinary people who don't even have Soul Power, they are just consumables.

After issuing this order, Emperor Xueye secretly issued another order, instructing Crown Prince Xue Qinghe to secretly collect these related materials and manufacture gunpowder in secret.

"Why, why did you pass these things on to everyone?"

"Why can't this light screen be seen by just me?"

Staring intently at the light screen in the sky, Emperor Xueye's eyes were filled with anger and resentment.

He was well aware that with the introduction of gunpowder, the Heavenly Dou Empire would experience a certain degree of chaos, and its national strength would be weakened.

In contrast, the Star Luo Empire was completely different.

The gap between their two countries was already huge, and with this gunpowder, the Star Luo Empire would become even stronger.

Once the Star Luo Empire goes to war, they will be powerless to stop it.

This ebb and flow was a predictable situation, which made Emperor Xueye even angrier and more unable to accept it.

As Emperor Xueye's order spread throughout the Heavenly Dou Empire, many commoners who relied on this for their livelihood suffered greatly.

If that's all there is to it, the impact on the Heaven Dou Empire won't be too significant.

After all, within a country, only a minority of people make a living this way.

But once the order is given, things change drastically when it reaches the lower levels.

Countless nobles, under the guise of this order, then stormed into the homes of merchants and commoners, looting other things.

In this productive world, who doesn't have some sugar at home?

And that became their excuse for robbing.

The order was issued, and in less than a day, the Heavenly Dou Empire was thrown into chaos.

Although the scale of this chaos is large, it has not damaged the foundation.

The reason is simple: the chaos only affects those who are being exploited.

For the core members of the Heavenly Dou Empire, the nobles, on the contrary, reaped considerable benefits.

Why did it turn out like this?

Qian Renxue looked at the chaotic Tian Dou Empire and felt bewildered.